The present invention relates to a circuit for supplying bias current.
An emitter coupled logic (ECL) gate circuit, for example, requires a bias current for the operation thereof. The bias current is supplied from an additionally provided bias voltage source.
Conventionally, a bias current is always supplied to all of a plurality of ECL gate circuits irrespective of the operation state of each ECL circuit. Since bias current is continuously supplied even when an ECL circuit is not operating, the current is wastefully consumed. ECL gate circuits generally consume the same current irrespective of whether or not the circuit block is operating, posing a significant obstruction to reducing power consumption of the whole circuit.